


The Coffee Princes

by SpaceAce



Category: The Two Princes (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-02-19 12:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22544494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceAce/pseuds/SpaceAce
Summary: When Rupert's mom asks him to spy on their rival coffee shop, he doesn't know what he will face. But the handsome barista at the East Coffee Hut certainly exceeds all expectations.
Relationships: Prince Amir/Prince Rupert (Two Princes Podcast)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 95





	1. Black Coffee

It was a slow day at West Bakery and Café, as all the other days these last few weeks had been. Rupert was leaning against the counter and drawing random lines on a sheet of paper, desperately trying to avoid the stares of his only customer.  
Some girl had been coming by every day and she was annoying the heck out of him. She spent every day the same way. She came in all bouncy and smelling of some flowery perfume that made Rupert’s nose itch and ordered some sweet concoction calling itself coffee. Then, she spent the next 15 minutes taking pictures of her drink until it had turned cold, and the next half to one hour staring at Rupert unabashedly. Rupert consoled himself with thoughts that it could be way worse. At least she had the decency to leave before they had to close the shop and she never asked Rupert more than the occasional ‘How are you’.

The only sounds in the cafe were the loud tick-tock of the clock somewhere behind him, his coworker, Joan, flipping through sports magazine after sports magazine, and the occasional scribble of his pen on the paper.  
Then the bell rang, announcing the arrival of a customer. Rupert jumped to attention and put on his brightest smile.

“Hello and welcome to We-”

“Yes, yes, darling. I know what my own coffee shop is called.”

“Of course, mom.” Rupert slumped back onto the counter and continued his scribbles. A dragon was slowly starting to take shape among the haphazard lines.

His mother cleared her throat and Rupert looked up. She had that scheming look in her eyes that he had come to fear.

“I’ve got a mission for you,” she said.

“I’m not interested.” Rupert turned back to his drawing, hoping that would make it clear to his mother that he wasn’t going to play along.

“Oh, come on now,” Lavinia slowly slid the paper out of Rupert’s grasp, causing him to draw an ugly line right through the dragon. “This will be _fun,_ ” she assured.

Rupert just rolled his eyes, but he knew by now that sometimes it was just better to play along with his mother’s crazy whims.

“What is it, then?”

She leaned towards him, framing her mouth with her hands, and stage whispered “ _Espionage_. East has been stealing our customers for weeks now, surely you’ve noticed,” she gestured dramatically at the expanse of their almost empty coffee shop to demonstrate. “Your mission, darling, will be to go there and find out what has the world turning their backs on our delicious coffee!”

“I can’t leave Joan here by herself,” Rupert tried.

“Oh, pish posh! There’s hardly anyone here, Joan can hold down the fort by herself, can’t you, dear?”

Rupert looked back to Joan, pleading with his eyes. But he knew it was a lost cause; Joan was loyal to a fault. Even if that meant letting a clear breach of their contract pass as long as Lavinia was asking. Their contract clearly said that they should always man the register as a pair. No one was to be left alone for longer than five minutes.

“Of course, boss,” Joan said. Predictable as always. Rupert silently shoved his last bit of hope that he would be spared his mother’s game out the window.

“Fine,” he said, pushing himself away from the counter. “I’ll go spy on our competitors if that will finally get you off my back!”

“Rupert!” His mom called after him, just as he pulled the door open.

Just like that his hope was back. Finally, his mom was going to pay attention to what _he_ wanted to do! Rupert turned back, a rare, genuine smile lighting up his face.

“Your apron, darling.”

The smile fell from Rupert’s face as quickly as it had appeared in the first place. He untied his apron, crumpled it up, and threw it to his mother. It landed several feet away from her.

Rupert huffed and stormed out the door.

The East Coffee Hut was a cozy looking cafe on a busy street corner on the other side of town from the West Bakery and Café. It was lit in a soft, orange light and had plants lining every single windowsill and empty corner. It was filled to the brim with people, some chatting away, others sitting quietly and staring at their laptops or a book. But right now, the best thing about it was that it looked warm. Rupert had forgotten to take his jacket with him and, after walking all the way here, he was freezing. He quickly slid inside, a charming little windchime announcing his arrival.

There was even a small cue before the register. Rupert didn’t quite want to believe it, but it seemed like his mother was right. Their customers had abandoned them to drink their coffee at East. Rupert even saw some of their regulars innocently sipping away at their coffees.

He spent his waiting time curiously looking around the shop. It was very obviously decorated with love and care. The only thing bothering Rupert was the enormous amount of plants. From outside it had looked nice, but in here it felt like the plants were slowly growing out of their pots to devour everything in the cafe.

Everything fit into a nice color scheme of green, dark brown, and some spots of white here and there to lighten everything up. Even the cups and plates fit neatly into the color scheme. Which was way different from the way Rupert’s mom had set everything up in the West. Lavinia had just randomly thrown together all kinds of tableware from Ikea to stuff sold at weekend yard sales or gifted by distant relatives. It was unorganized, sure, but Rupert loved it. Their shop was an explosion of colors and shapes.

The only colors here were the spines of a myriad of books crammed into shelves by the entrance of the cafe. There was a sign above the bookshelves announcing to take one and leave one. Rupert would have to look through them in a bit. It seemed like a nice concept and Rupert loved reading. He could never get enough of grand adventures, daring rescues, and the eventual happy after.

“Next?” Someone called. “Hello, Sir? Sir?”

Rupert looked back to the register to see what was going on and was faced with the most beautiful man he had ever seen. He looked pissed off, but even with the sour expression of his face, Rupert was fascinated by him. He was downright _gorgeous_.

“Sir! It’s your _turn_ , I haven’t got all day.”

“Oh, gosh, sorry, I was distracted!” Rupert said, closing the distance between them.

The barista just sighed and asked what he wanted to order.

“Oh- uhm,” Rupert quickly looked up to their menu, trying to decide which drink he should order. But the barista was tapping his fingers on the counter in an impatient melody and the sound was erasing everything Rupert was trying to read.

“I’ll just have a coffee,” he said, his voice jumping up annoyingly at the end and making it seem like a question.

“Well, we have lots of different coffees, sir,” the barista answered. He was talking slowly and putting emphasis on each word. Rupert felt the butterflies in his stomach turn sour. “Which one would you like?”

“Just a coffee. Like, just a normal, black coffee. Just give me a black coffee, you have that too, right?”

“What kind of coffee shop wouldn’t have a black coffee?” He said, punching something into the register. Rupert wanted to yell at him, attractiveness be damned. This was going so much worse than he had hoped.

“Name?”

“My- my name? I’m... Fitzroy! But my friends call me Fitz” Rupert said. He wasn’t sure why exactly he felt the need to lie, or why he had to choose his dog’s name of all things, but the question had put him on the spot. He never asked his customers what they were called. Maybe this meant that the barista wasn’t as unfriendly as Rupert had thought. Maybe this was actually going better than Rupert thought.

“Why, what’s yours beautiful?”

The other man leveled a glare at him that left Rupert stammering out anything to save face.

“I meant- uhm- b-ba-barista! I meant barista, not beautiful! Ha! Ha! I wouldn’t call you beautiful!”

He was graced with a raised eyebrow as a response. Oh, God.

“Well, I mean! Not that you aren’t! Beautiful, that is! I mean, if you threatened to pour hot coffee over me and asked ‘Am I beautiful?’ I’d say, uhm, _yeah_! Of course, you’re beautiful, haha. Haaaaa. Anyways… I _meant_ to say what’s yours, _barista_?” He tried to smile, but it felt awkward. Like he was showing too many teeth.

The barista just slowly raised his hand to point at his name tag with an absurdly attractive finger. The name Amir was written on it in a lovely, swirling font.

“Oh, wow, Amir? That’s an awesome name!” Rupert tried to smile again, but this time he felt like he wasn’t showing _enough_ teeth. Jesus, how had he forgotten how to smile? His smile was his biggest asset!

“For here or to go?” Amir asked.

“For here, please,” Rupert squeaked.

“That’s one fifty.”

Rupert handed him the money and dropped some coins into the tip jar for good measure, but it did nothing to dispel the thunder running across Amir’s face.

“Please wait by the side until your name is called,” Amir instructed.

Suddenly it dawned on Rupert. How could he have been so stupid? Of _course_ , Amir was only asking his name for his order! It’s not like Rupert had never been to a Starbucks before, he knew the drill. He just hadn’t thought of it. He mentally kicked himself while he was waiting for his coffee, watching his shoes intently even though he desperately wanted to watch Amir work instead.

He almost missed Amir calling for Fitzroy and as he took his coffee he debated trying to smooth things over again but seeing as he couldn't even muster up enough nerves to look up at Amir, that was kind of impossible for him right now. Instead, Rupert went to stand in front of the bookshelves lining the entrance of the East Coffee Hut looking for anything familiar that could help him calm his frayed nerves. After roaming the shelves for a bit, Rupert found the perfect book. He looked at the cover, already feeling a bit better, and a small smile crept back onto his face.

He sat down at one of the last few empty tables, facing the world outside so he wouldn’t have to look at Amir. He opened the book and immediately skipped the first few pages to get right to the good parts. With every word, Rupert’s heart felt more at ease. He got lost in the fantastical world hidden in the book’s pages, with its magical creatures, epic quests, and dragons soaring through the heavens. It took him a while until he remembered to drink his coffee, but as soon as he took the first sip, his head snapped back towards the baristas behind the register. How could a simple black coffee taste this good? It was absolutely delicious! No wonder people had been flocking here, one of the baristas was apparently a god of coffee. Rupert wondered whether it was Amir who had made his coffee. He really should have been paying attention.

It didn’t take him long to finish the rest of his coffee. He left his book face-down on the table so that no one would steal his spot and made a beeline towards the register.

Amir scowled at his reappearance, but Rupert decided to pointedly ignore that.

“Hey, that coffee was amazing,” he said, “can I get another one?”

“One fifty,” Amir said, instead of answering like a normal human being would. Not that Rupert minded much. Apparently insanely hot people didn’t need manners.

“Oh, can I get something to eat with it too? Do you guys have chocolate chip cookies here?”

“Two fifty,” Amir said.

“Nice,” Rupert said, digging in his pockets for the money. He wouldn’t lose this time. “I love cookies.”

Amir didn’t even react. Rupert tried his luck again with one of his famous smiles, but this only seemed to piss Amir off even more. He cleared his throat and handed Amir the money, dropping some more coins in the tip jar again.

“Please wait by the side until your name is called,” Amir said, his voice painfully neutral.

“Oh, uhm, one more thing, actually. I was wondering, are there any books you would recommend?”

“Why? You’ve already got one, don’t you?”

“Oh, well, yes. But I already know that one.”

“Then why did you even take it out?”

“Because I like it! It’s f-”

“Nevermind,” Amir interrupted. Rupert frowned. They were just getting into a conversation. “You should take Emma.”

“Emma?”

“Jane Austen wrote it. Now please step aside, there are people waiting.”

Rupert went to stand by the order collection area and tried to watch Amir. After taking the next person’s order he turned around to the coffee machines and got to work. He looked entirely in his element, unbothered by all the steam and hissing around him. It was mesmerizing to watch him work. Rupert had been working at West for a few years by now and he still didn’t exude that kind of confidence with his work. But Amir made making coffee look like an intricate dance. Rupert watched every movement with rapt attention and almost protested when Amir was done. But he was walking towards Rupert now, looking right into his eyes, and Rupert forgot everything but this moment and Amir’s deep, brown eyes.

“Fitzroy,” Amir said, extending the coffee mug and a small plate with a cookie towards him.

Rupert gulped, his heart beating a mile a minute, and took the coffee and cookie back to his table.

In his eagerness to taste the coffee, Rupert drank as soon as he sat down and promptly burned his tongue. Nevertheless, he could still taste the explosion of savor in the coffee. So Amir had made his first coffee too. Apparently, that guy was a coffee genius.

The cookie was another story, though. It was way too hard and tasted vaguely of cardboard. Rupert could have made a better cookie blindfolded.

He immediately reached for the coffee to wash down the stale cookie and burned himself again. Sighing, he pushed both the coffee and the cookie away from him and stood up to search for the Emma book.

It was nowhere to be seen. Disappointed, Rupert shuffled back to his table and sipped on his coffee now that is was finally cold enough to do that. He couldn’t help but trying to catch some glances of Amir this time. The air around him seemed to sparkle. Rupert rubbed his eyes, but it didn’t change anything.

Amir worked efficiently and with expert precision. And whenever there wasn’t a customer, he busied himself leafing through a book of his own. Rupert kind of wanted to know what book _he_ was reading.

When his coffee was empty, Rupert headed to the bathroom before starting the journey back. Even here, the green and black color scheme was rigorously enforced.

When he got back to his table, the empty coffee cups were gone, in their place a used-looking book. Rupert turned it around so he could see the cover. It was a painting of some big mansion and below it stood “Jane Austen: Emma”.

Had Amir done this? For some reason, Rupert’s heart started beating faster. He looked back to Amir behind the register and felt a smile splitting his face in two. He showed him two enthusiastic thumbs up and mouthed a thanks.

Amir only rolled his eyes. It felt like a win.

Rupert didn’t even feel the cold as he walked back to the West Bakery and Café in the twilight. He was too busy cradling the book to his chest and humming to himself. Amir may have acted cold and standoffish, but he had gone out of his way to look for the book for Rupert, and that had to be worth something, right?

He went straight to his mother’s small office upstairs. Without knocking he let himself in and sat down heavily on the one free chair available. Every other surface in the room was covered with stray papers and old or broken knickknacks his mom couldn’t quite get rid of. Lavinia set aside a stack of papers she was leafing through and smiled at her son.

“What news do you bring?” she asked, leaning her chin on her hands.

“The coffee at East is just better than ours,” Rupert explained, “That’s why so many people are going there. Their barista is really good.” _And gorgeous_ , he thought to himself.

Lavinia jammed a finger upwards in response.

“You will go and spy on him, then! Find out what makes him good, and then, be _better_!”

Rupert just rolled his eyes. But he didn’t really have anything against going to East a few more times and trying his luck with Amir, so he didn’t complain. Not that his mother would have listened anyway.

“By the way, I’m getting a new barista to join us,” Lavinia said, pointing down at the stack of papers she was working on. Presumably, it was the contract of whoever she was employing next.

“Sure,” Rupert said. The only thing this meant was that spying on East was more important to Lavinia than her son’s opinions. Rupert had been trying to get some more help for months now and Lavinia had never listened. As usual, Rupert’s suggestions were just pushed aside until they fit into Lavinia's own plans.

“I’m going to my room, mom,” Rupert said.

“Yes, yes. See you then, darling.” Lavinia did some kind of shooing motion with her hands. She was already back to her papers now that she had gotten what she wanted from Rupert.

After fixing himself a small dinner, Rupert headed to his bedroom, Emma still tucked close to his chest. He wiggled under his covers and began reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay listen, I just binged all of The Two Princes and I felt like writing this I have no idea where it’s going but at this point I’m just glad I had the motivation to start it.  
> Don’t expect any good writing because ha! I can’t write! (btw if you spot any typos feel free to point them out I did not proof read this)  
> Also don’t expect regular updates because that is not my jam at all.  
> This is probably terribly OOC but you know what? Idc  
> Also drop some recommendations for Amir’s book recs please! I have no idea which books to choose and it’s freaking me out!


	2. Espresso

Rupert was tired, but it had all been worth it. He hadn’t set down his book at all yesterday. He’d read and read until the clock reached an ungodly hour and then read some more until Emma had run out of words to fill the silent night. He had finally let his eyes drop close when his alarm blared at him to get out of bed. It felt like only minutes had passed, but already the sun had come out to greet him.

He tried to wash the tiredness off his face unsuccessfully and decided to just rock the bag-under-his-eyes look. Then, he went downstairs to their little bakery room next to the actual cafe and thought about what he wanted to make today.

They never really had a set menu at West, instead one of the other employees made whatever they wanted in the mornings – Rupert detested waking up before 10, so this role was out of question for him – and then Rupert would step in to make some more appetizing little pastries for the rest of the day. Depending on his mood this would range anywhere from simple fruit pies and sugar cookies when he was feeling drained or whopping three-chocolate cakes and intricately decorated cupcakes when he felt like his energy was going to shoot out of him like lightning if he didn’t do something to let it out immediately.

Today was kind of a mix of both. The night reading had drained him and left him feeling like he was walking through the world behind a crackling screen. But somewhere deep in his stomach was a balled up, roiling mess of energy waiting for something or some _one_ to wake it up. Rupert had a creeping suspicion that it had to so with a certain someone he was hoping to see again today when he left for East. He tried to swallow down his feelings and started to work. He decided on making two cakes. One filled with cream and cinnamon that would go perfectly with a nice cup of espresso and another one that was a layered combination of cheese cake, homemade caramel, and dark chocolate brownie. Rupert rolled up his sleeves, turned his music on shuffle, and started baking.

He was busy making the brownie part of his cake and loudly singing along to Madonna’s Like a Prayer when he turned around, brownie dough stuck all around his mouth, and got into a violent coughing fit. The girl who had been pretty much stalking him for a while now was standing there, leaning against the door frame and watching him with a starstruck look in her eyes.

“Jesus fu-” Rupert coughed again, “Why are you _here_? This area is off-limits!”

The girl just blushed and smiled in response, offering no explanation at all.

“Please leave!” Rupert tried. “Again, customers are _not_ allowed to be here, miss. Please just go back to the cafe.”

“Oh! But I’m not a customer!” she said. She excitedly flailed her hands around herself to show off her West Bakery and Café apron.

Shock and realization must have cut Rupert’s face into some grotesque parody of his usually friendly demeanor because the girl had stopped smiling and had let her hands fall down and smack against her thighs.

“You’re our new barista?” Rupert asked, trying to keep his rising panic out of his voice.

Just like that, the smile was back on her face. She bounced towards him, extending out her hand.

“I’m Cecily, it’s so nice to officially meet you!”

Rupert shook her hand on autopilot even though his hands were all yucky with dough. Cecily didn’t seem to mind at all though, she just excitedly gripped his hand with both of hers and yanked it up and down. She didn’t let go by herself, and, eventually, Rupert was so uncomfortable that he just snatched his hand away again.

“Yes, well, I’m happy we’re getting another barista,” he said.

“Oh, yeah, I heard you’re gonna be occupied with some _secret mission_ instead! What exactly are you doing? How secret is your mission? Is the government involved?” she asked.

“Uhm, no?” At least Rupert didn’t think it was, though nothing was above his mother’s conscience. She might as well involve the government if it would help her win against the East.

Cecily nodded slowly and then slapped a hand to her mouth.

“But, of course! How silly! You can’t just _talk_ about it, it’s a secret after all! Oh, _Cecily_ , you silly goose.”

Rupert didn’t quite know what to say in response, even though most people always made sure to tell him what a chatter mouth he was. Instead, he just cleared his throat and rubbed his neck.

“Oh no, Rupert is your neck okay? Do you want a massage?”

Rupert’s hand dropped back down from his neck as if it had been burnt.

“No!” he yelped. “No, no, absolutely not! If you’ll excuse me, I kind of do have to work and I’m sure you should be starting your training with Joan by now, so...”

“Yeah, I just wanted to ask you one little thing actually,” Cecily said, looking at him expectantly.

“Uhm, okay? What is it?”

“Do you have time after my shift today?”

This couldn’t be happening. Rupert looked at her like a deer in the headlights. He _really_ didn’t want to be having this conversation.

“I was thinking,” Cecily continued, “Maybe we could go get a burger or something after. I know this absolutely gorgeous little spot, really nice decor, and, of course, amazing burgers and all that. And maybe after that, we could catch a mo-”

“Let me stop you right there, Cecily,” Rupert said. “Listen, well, I’m sure you’re a great girl, really, but-” Rupert was looking for the right words to make this as painless for her as possible, but even if he were into girls at all, he would not in a million years date Cecily. And it was hard to say that kindly. “Well, anyone would be lucky to, uhm, date you and stuff, I’m sure, in fact, off the top of my head I could list like three guys who would be ready to go right now. There’s Gabriel, and, uhm, there’s Marc, he would be absolutely delighted by you a-”

“But why can’t _you_ go on a date with me?” Cecily pouted.

“Oh, that’s easy, I’m gay. Like, super into dudes, you know?” Rupert realized belatedly that he probably should just have led with that.

Cecily sighed in defeat.

“Okay, well, that’s alright, I guess. Doesn’t leave much space for me does it?”

“We could still be friends?” Rupert offered.

Cecily’s mood lightened a bit, but her disappointment was obvious.

“You bet,” she said. Her smile seemed insincere, but Rupert wasn’t about to call her out over it.

There was a beat of silence and then Cecily let out a big huff of air.

“So, I’m just gonna head on up front then,” she said, already shuffling out of the room.

“Have a nice first day at work,” Rupert said, “Oh, and Cecily?” Cecily stopped in her tracks to look back up at Rupert. “That was really cool of you, to just ask me straight up like that. I wish I had your courage.”

“Ha, well, if there’s one thing I have when it comes to cute people, it’s courage. You know, I always just tell myself ‘Cecily, are you just gonna miss out on this chance?’ and usually the answer is no.”

“Wow, I don’t think that would ever work for me,” Rupert said. For a second he imagined himself asking out Amir. He would probably fumble all the way through the question, and straight up cry when he was inevitably rejected.

“You know, Rupert, if you ever need a bit of my courage for yourself, don’t hesitate to ask-” Cecily winked “- I’ve got more than enough to spare,” she offered.

Rupert laughed. Maybe Cecily wasn’t quite as bad as he had pegged her to be.

“Thanks, Cecily, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Cecily left and Rupert indulged himself in quietly preparing the cakes once again. Every few minutes, his mind would drift back to the East and to the barista waiting there. He dared to imagine a future in which he would agree to go on a date with him. Their first date would be at the bowling alley down the street, where Rupert could show off the skills he had gathered during years of Thursday-night-bowling with his friends. Then, miraculously, their hands would brush while Rupert was handing Amir a bowling ball, and they would both stare down at their touching fingers with wonder before slowly drifting them apart. Their second date would be at the cinema, where Amir would valiantly take his hand under the cover of darkness. Rupert would blush extensively, but he would not let go. They’d get a milkshake to share, and while they were both sipping, their eyes would meet and sparks would fly, their breaths mingling beneath them.

It didn’t take Rupert long after entering the East Coffee Hut that afternoon to decide once and for all that he would not be asking out Amir. His eyes immediately met his through the busy cafe and, while he was still as gorgeous as ever, his expression was overflowing with annoyance. Rupert was half sure that if he somehow gathered the guts to ask him out, the guy would just happily rip out his heart and stomp all over it.

Rupert used up all his courage just walking to the cash register where Amir was working.

“Hello again,” Rupert started.

Amir nodded in response.

“What would you like to order today?”

Rupert was just about to get another black coffee when he thought better of it.

“I’ll go for a double shot espresso. I deserve it. I mean, after the night I had.”

Amir raised an eyebrow in question, making Rupert blush to the tips of his ears.

“I didn’t mean it like that! Sheesh! I mean my night with Emma!”

Amir’s second eyebrow joined up with its brother and furrowed together on his face into an expression of equal parts confusion and anger.

“The _book_!” Rupert added. “Emma, the book!”

Amir just dropped his gaze to the register, his interest disappearing almost immediately as he busied himself with punching in Rupert’s order.

“Two bucks,” he barked out.

Rupert silently handed him the money, making sure to put some more in the tip jar as well, and scuttled back to wait for his coffee.

Rupert wouldn’t have reacted to Amir calling him Fitzroy if he hadn’t been watching him make his espresso before handing it to him. He wanted to tell him his real name, if only so that he would call it out whenever his coffee was done. But, how exactly could he even start that conversation? It’s not like he could just go and tell him to call him Rupert now. What would he say if Amir asked Rupert why he lied about his name in the first place? ‘I saw you and my brain short-circuited’ didn’t really seem like an acceptable answer.

Rupert took his coffee from Amir’s waiting hands and the opportunity to clear things up passed without much ado.

But instead of heading back to the cash register, Amir stayed put in front of Rupert and cleared his throat.

“How did you like it then? The book?”

“You know, when I read the first sentence I thought you’d chosen the book just to torture me. Let’s just say it’s not the type of book I usually read. But for whatever reason, I just got really into it. Emma grew on me so quickly! She just wants the best for everyone, but everything keeps blowing up in her face. Poor girl, I could totally relate.”

Amir’s nose scrunched up adorably.

“You really think so? I always find her so annoying. All she does is meddle in the lives of others. And they didn’t even ask for it. I mean, poor Harriet. Her life would have been so much better without Emma interfering.”

“But she does it to help everyone! Also, that is not true,” Rupert countered. “Harriet is Emma’s friend and it’s fun for her. They’re friends and sometimes friends make mistakes. Like convincing you not to marry a cute farmer.”

“They’d be better off without her questionable help,” Amir insisted. “All Emma really does is complicate things for everyone around her and when Knightley has the nerve to actually call her out on it she just mopes and gives a halfhearted apology. Which isn’t even a special thing to do, I seriously don’t get how the apology makes everything okay again for Knightley.”

“I think it just shows she cares, and that she took his words to heart, you know? Also, let me tell you, Churchill and Jane Fairfax? I never would have-”

A fair-haired girl tapped Amir’s shoulder from behind, interrupting Rupert’s train of thoughts.

“Hey, Casanova, stop flirting and get to your register,” she said.

Amir’s expression got downright thunderous while Rupert slowly descended into panic. Had Amir been flirting? Did Rupert have a chance after all? No. Amir looked mad that she had assumed that. Had _Rupert_ been flirting? They were just talking! Did this mean that Amir often flirted with people? Often enough that his coworkers picked up on it? But also, and way more important, did Amir flirt with guys? This was entirely too much for Rupert to process right now.

Amir didn’t seem to have the same problems; he just scowled at his friend and turned around, roughly bumping her out of the way and hissing “It’s _not_ flirting, Gwen.”

Well, at least that cleared it up for Rupert. They had not been flirting, and even if Amir was into guys, he obviously did not have any interest in him.

Rupert walked towards the bookshelves at the back of the shop with his espresso in hand. At least the books couldn’t reject him. He stood there for a while, reading the titles on the books’ spines and occasionally taking one of them out to inspect it closer. But nothing drew him into any of the books. After a while he just took one book at random and sat down at one of the big leather armchairs lining one of the walls, surrounded by plants obscuring him from view. He sat there and tried to focus on the feeling of his fingers over the book’s soft cover. He could feel the bulging letters of the title and a somewhat sticky texture somewhere above it. One moment his mind was empty, blissfully distracted by trying to decipher what was beneath his fingers, and the next his brain was flooded again by unbidden thoughts.

He remembered his daydream from before, now chased by the bitterness of his actual interaction with Amir and his denial of wanting to flirt with Rupert. Was he really so out of his league? Rupert thought that he should just give up on Amir, do as his mother asked him to, and get back to melting into the background of the West Bakery and Café until he was old and gray. He was probably just annoying the guy to begin with. He had been the same way with Cecily, just putting on a fake smile and hoping that she would be gone soon. Only that Amir didn’t even bother to smile.

Rupert shut the book with force, accidentally trapping his fingers that had been absentmindedly rifling through the pages. He pulled out his throbbing hand and flung it back and forth, hissing under his breath. How had his day turned so dark so fast? Everything had been fine before. Amir had talked to him and it felt like he had even enjoyed it.

Sighing, Rupert swallowed his espresso, it’s bitterness like the last confirmation that this day had turned sour. Even though, annoyingly enough, this was still the best espresso Rupert had ever tasted.

He left the empty cup on the small table next to his armchair and went to put the book back on the shelves. He’d just begun to slide it into a gap between two other books when someone cleared their throat behind him. Rupert turned around and startled at seeing Amir right there. He almost dropped the book, but caught himself in the last second. The anger was gone from Amir's face and he was instead looking down at Rupert's book with interest.

“John Green? Good choice,” Amir said.

Finally, Rupert looked down at the book he had taken. The cover showed a stream of smoke against a black background and Rupert recognized the weird shape he had tried to decipher as some kind of award. Beneath the smoke, a red box surrounded the title ‘Looking for Alaska’.

“Alaska is pretty big, it can’t be that hard to find,” Rupert said.

Amir snorted, the sound of it making Rupert’s heart stutter in joy.

“It’s not about the state, it’s about a girl. A girl called Alaska,” Amir clarified.

Rupert felt his cheeks warm up and quickly tried to hide his embarrassment by talking over his thoughts.

“It’s John Green, though,” he said, “I’ve read one of his books before. The one about the cancer kids. I went into it just expecting a nice and sweet romance and, I guess, in a way, there was one, but it was just so _sad_.”

“Well, they did both have cancer,” Amir answered. “You don’t like sad books?”

“I’m more of a sappy guy, really,” Rupert said, looking up at Amir. He looked as his Adam's apple bobbed down his throat and then forced his eyes back to the book. Silence stretched out between them as Rupert waited for Amir to say anything else other than asking him to stop staring. Oh god, how embarrassing.

“Then Alaska probably isn’t for you,” Amir finally continued. “I mean, there are a lot of cute moments and just general teenage shenanigans, but it is a murder mystery at its core and it gets pretty sad.”

Relieved, Rupert jumped straight back into talking. “No way, man, murder mystery is not my jam at all. If my life was a toast, and there was a murder mystery jam, it would not be mine, you know what I mean?”

“Absolutely not,” Amir said, his voice almost sparking to Rupert’s ears. “Read this then.” Amir shoved another book his way. Without thinking Rupert took it.

“If you liked Emma, you’ll like Pride and Prejudice,” Amir said. “That’s just the way it is.”

Rupert knew he would read it no matter what if Amir had given it to him. Even so, he asked, “What is it about?”

“Sappy people in the eighteen hundreds,” Amir said, a slight smile lighting up his face.

Rupert grinned back awkwardly, his heartbeat drowning the chatter of everyone else around him. No matter what Amir had said to that girl before, this was definitely flirting. There was no way that Amir did not know what effect he was having on Rupert right now. There was no way everyone in this café wasn't hearing Rupert's heart beating wildly in his chest.

Amir cleared his throat and briskly turned around to head back to the register. For a second Rupert's heart was caught in free fall. Then, Amir turned back around and said: “See you tomorrow, Fitz.”

Amir wanted to see him tomorrow. Amir wanted to spend more time with him. Amir didn’t hate him. And he had given him a nickname! A fake nickname, since Fitzroy was a fake name to begin with, but still. 

Rupert felt like skipping back home. He stepped out of the East Coffee Hut, raising his hand to shield his eyes from the sun’s glare.

Had the sun been shining this bright before?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, I warned you guys that it would take me a while to update and here we finally are with the second chapter :D I hope you like it :)  
> Thank you MajesticGhosty for the book refs, I sneakily put in Looking for Alaska here hehe
> 
> I feel like Rupert's feelings are just rollercoasting all over the place, just like my feelings about this fic :o one second I love it, the next I'm extremely embarrassed by it, but hey that's life!   
> Also, disclaimer: Everything I know about Emma I took from the movie which I watched a few weeks ago :D


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